Android 7.1 will seemingly see the introduction of “Launcher Shortcuts” to Android. As luck would have it, many of the hooks required to use these shortcuts already exist in the latest versions of Google's apps, and as of today's Action Launcher update, you can use these shortcuts in current versions of Android. The feature is called Quickcuts, and it works like so:

You just swipe on a compatible Quickcut icon, and voila, any launcher shortcuts defined by an app will automatically display.

Pro tip: you can use the same gesture to both swipe to open a Quickcut and make your selection!

Given Quickcuts use a yet-to-be-announced API, the number of apps that support them is obviously limited at this early stage point, but Google Photos, Play Books, Play Movies & TV and Play Music are all excellent apps to showcase Quickcuts. Action Launcher also bundles dedicated Quickcut definitions for Gmail, Twitter and YouTube, because, well, we've all waited long enough for a quick way to jump to our Watch Later list right?

When Android 7.1 is announced and as more apps from Google and other developers add support for launcher shortcuts, those shortcuts will automatically become available in Action Launcher.

Based on the leaks, Action Launcher now implements every one of Pixel Launcher's known features including the new sliding All Apps drawer, circular folders, using the round icons Google are seemingly moving towards, the Google "pill" and date widgets and more. Most of these features are enhanced in key ways also.